Once upon a time in a government department far, far away there lived a supervisor called Clarence and an admin officer called Felix, who was a frog. Clarence came back from management training one day with a gleam in his eye.

“Felix!" he exclaimed to the frog, “Public sector reforms are achieving amazing things through multiskilling. We’re going to be teaching you to fly!"

Felix was less than impressed by the prospect. He’d tolerated a lot in recent years but this was going too far. “Sorry. I can’t fly, I’m a frog."

Clarence was impatient and cross. “Your negative attitude seems to be a problem, Felix. We need a can-do attitude round here, not this knee-jerk resistance to change. But don’t worry, I’ve got you booked into a special training course. Starting Monday."

So on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Felix attended an Empowerment and Efficiency Seminar for Administrative Officers and learnt about problem solving, time management and effective communication. Nothing about flying, however.

On Thursday morning, assured that Felix was now thoroughly competent to fly and just needed to implement his training, Clarence presented him with a schedule.

“We’ll get you flying in no time with this scientifically implemented timetable" said Clarence enthusiastically. “The office is 5 stories high. Every morning, we’ll get you to jump out of a window one story higher than the day before. After each jump, I fill in this evaluation form analyzing how well the officer flew, identify the most effective flying techniques implemented and then make sure improvements are suggested for the next flight. Ready?"

Felix shrugged. Clarence popped him on the ground floor windowsill and pushed. Felix landed on the ground outside with a plop.

“That’s not bad for starters," said Clarence, carefully filling in the evaluation form. “But we’ll start to get a better impression of the flying tomorrow."

On the second day, Felix begged not to be thrown out of the first floor window.

“I can’t fly", he said. “I’m a frog. I’ll get hurt jumping from this height."

“Nonsense!" said Clarence. “You just have to fall smarter, not harder. There’s no room in the modern public service for negative spirits who can’t rise to new challenges. You’ve been trained – at great expense, I should point out – to fly. It is government policy that admin officers should fly. Therefore, you shall fly. Now!"

Out went Felix. He hit the ground with a painful thump, but still managed to limp back inside and report to the boss.

“I still don’t see too much evidence of flying technique" said Clarence, filling in the form for Day Two. “But it’s the weekend now. You’ve got two days to revise your notes and consider your options for the flight from the second storey."

By Monday morning Felix was feeling deeply depressed and begged not to be thrown out of the second storey window. But Clarence just smiled, opened his copy of the One Minute Manager and showed Felix the part about greatest resistance being inevitable when managers were implementing new programs.

Felix asked for a postponement of the project until the weather was more favorable for flying. But Clarence pulled out a timeline, pointed to the third milestone and asked “You don’t want the schedule to slip, do you?"

Felix looked down. It seemed a very long way to the ground. He tried one last plea. “You know this project is killing me, don’t you?"

But Clarence had had enough. “Look here!" he said. “This has gone far enough. I’m tired of your negative attitude. And frankly, your performance has been less than satisfactory for some time now. It’s shape up or ship out time, Felix. Now get out there and fly."

He pushed Felix out of the window. And alas, Felix hit the ground with a horrifying splat and didn’t move again. Clarence was horrified. What had gone wrong? His project had failed to meet a single goal. Felix had resisted training, complained about its relevance, and had not only failed to fly, but never fully participated in goal setting and had frankly failed to endorse project objectives.